Iran has released the Marshall Islands-flagged tanker Talara with all its 21 crew members aboard, days after its forces seized the ship off its Gulf coast.
The ship’s manager, Columbia Shipmanagement, said the crew “are safe and in good spirits”. Iran has not yet commented on the release.
“We have informed their families, and the vessel is now free to resume normal operations,” the firm said. It added that “no allegations were made against the vessel, her crew and the vessel’s managers and owners”.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps admitted seizing the Talara on Saturday.
“After a judicial authority ordered the seizure of the cargo of an oil tanker with the trade name Talara and the flag of the Marshall Islands, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) rapid reaction units of the naval forces monitored its movements and intercepted and seized it,” said the IRGC in a statement.
Following inspections, Iranian authorities said “the tanker was in violation for carrying unauthorised cargo”.
The ship had been travelling from the UAE to Singapore when Iranian forces intercepted it, a US defence official told AP on Friday.
The tanker was approached by three small boats in the Strait of Hormuz before deviating from its course in the Gulf of Oman, Ambrey said. The agency added the incident was “likely highly targeted”.
The British military’s UK Maritime Trade Operations centre separately acknowledged the incident.
